Elevated powers, presence for police

UNDERCOVER police, national security agencies and Defence Force personnel have descended on the Coast ahead of the largest event ever staged in Queensland.

Years of planning has gone into developing the safest possible event spread the length of the city attracting hundreds of thousands of people.

Large sections of the Coast will fall under Protective Security Zones, giving police more powers to search and detain without warrants and move people on from the area, along with restrictions placed on a number of items.

Police Minister Mark Ryan said it was necessary to increase the police powers and increase security numbers for the event.

“As the biggest event to be held in Queensland’s history, the Commonwealth Games give rise to a number of security issues that the Palaszczuk Government is ensuring are addressed,” Mr Ryan said.

“To ensure the community’s safety, the biggest security contingent ever has been deployed to keep Queenslanders, athletes and our visitors safe.

“Furthermore, the Palaszczuk Government has introduced three amendment bills to give police enhanced powers to combat terrorism and better respond to emergencies.”

And for the first time in Australia, Queensland Police will use facial recognition technology to identify people and potential threats.

Mr Ryan said it was a necessary piece of equipment to help in the fight against potential terrorist attacks.

“(The) new legislation will allow police to access images held by participating agencies for community safety, security and law enforcement purposes,” he said.

“The face matching service provides a matching capability to biometrically compare an individual’s image against those images on record to verify who they claim to be or help identify who they are.

“This system will have robust privacy safeguards and be implemented in consultation with the Australian Privacy Commissioner and it will be audited by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.”

Gold Coast Chief Superintendent Marty Mickelson said the extra police and powers enacted during the Games was about keeping people safe.

“It is not the time to be playing up given that there is going to be a large police presence,” Chief Supt Mickelson said.

“If you’re going to play up, chances are we are going to be on top of you pretty quickly.”